EPL: Juan Mata red carded as Man United suffer loss against West Brom

Van Gaal chides Mata over his red card after Man Utd suffer 0-1 loss to West Brom to leave Red Devils down to sixth place in race for EPL top-four spot

West Bromwich (UK): Louis van Gaal said Juan Mata should have shown more care after he was red-carded as Manchester United lost 1-0 to West Bromwich Albion in a blow to their Champions League qualification hopes.

Louis van Gaal

Mata paid a heavy price for two moments of madness in the space of three minutes and that proved costly as United missed out on the chance to stay in close touch with fourth-placed Manchester City.

"The decision, for us, was the turning point in the match," said United's manager. As a player you also have to know when you have a yellow card, you have to take care."

Red sees red: Referee Mike Dean shows the red card to Manchester United's Juan Mata (extreme left) during their English Premier League match against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich, England on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images

Mata, later apologised for the red card.

"After almost 500 games as a professional player, I was sent off for the first time in my career. As you can imagine, it's not easy for me to write these lines," Mata wrote in his blog. "The truth is this is a new and strange situation for me, not easy to assimilate, but we learn from everything."